Assalaamu Alaykum everyone! Peace to you all! I have a very special review today for you which I'm quite excited about! After doing tons of research and swatch searching on various soures from the internet I finally took the plunge and bought Macs Velvet Teddy lipstick. Whenever I would see it on someone, in a picture or in a video, I would instantly recognise it and get all excited, obsessed and sentimental over it, my love for Velvet Teddy grew and grew and grew. There was some nudging doubts of whether it would suit my uncompromisable complexion with its many conditions, as the people I had seen it on and loved it on where much much lighter than me so I wouldnt be able to replicate the exact look on myself. But regardless of whether it would suit my complexion or not, I HAD to have it and I WOULD make it work, It just had to work..!

Hey guys, salam...peace to you all. Sorry for the lack of posts, I will have some up soon I promise.

Anyways...Recently I've been playing around with the many foundation samples and bottles I currently own and have come out with some very good results and techniques!!! I'm very happy and very excited and I couldn't wait to write a post about it!

Okay.. So.. Im around a mac nc40-41-42, though a nc42 is too dark for me, I used to think I was an nc42 because of the hyperpigmentation on my face but it turns out im an nc40-41. In all the trialling and testing i used to do, I made one mistake... The mistake I was making was the expectations I had of how the foundation looked compared to my natural skin. I wanted it to be exactly the same as my skintone, like exact, not a touch lighter or a touch darker. I kept thinking that the foundation should make me look stunning and completely flawless, yet the main purpose of foundation is to make your skin look a little more even and to minimise the appearance of any blemishes. Not to make it appear like you have a completely new face. My expectations were too high and ridiculous. There I've admitted it.

Another mistake I was making or not really mistake, it was more inexperiance, was the chosen method of applying the foundation. I settled down to using only my fingers or a simple foundation painter style brushes, I should have invested in proper quality brushes or sponges like the beauty blender and experimented more.

Cuz at the end of the day everyones skin is different and different things work for different people. A certain foundation will require a certain application tool/method depending on the texture and consistensy of the foundation. And also the type of skin a person has and what kind of finish they are looking for. All these factors are so important when applying foundation. Experiment Experiment Experiment !! I can not stress it any more. Especially for problematic skin.

So here's what I've been doing....
First off is the base, meaning my skin. I've currently changed my skincare routine and am l-o-v-i-n-g it (I will be doing a post on this soon-definitely-without fail!). Iv been keeping my skin ultra smooth and ultra clean and blemish free. Thank God I changed my routine! When your skin is looking naturally healthy ofcourse your foundation will be looking as good. Also I've been mixing my foundations, so if one was too light for me and another was too dark, I mixed the two together in the right proportions to get something close to my skin colour. Haha obviously not EXACT but something close to ;) . And this last step or change that I've done is the main one me thinks.. I've been using the beauty blender.... It's the cheaper dupe one from Ebay not THE actual one.

I must say... I LOVE LOVE LOVE the beauty blender, it has honestly changed my world! Haha no kidding! There is something about that moist sponge that makes my foundation go on my face looking all dewy and perfect. Like I'm exuding radiance from every pore!!! I am not exaggerating! And it provides decent coverage. It does make sense because I do have dry skin, so the moisture that the sponge provides keep my skin looking dewy and radiant and not dry and grey which usually would happen when applying with my fingers or brushes. One thing that I could do is wet my brushes when using a brush to apply my foundation.

So what I'm left with is a sheer to medium coverage, my skintone looks alot more even, my acne scars are dimmed down by a half and my skin doesn't look dry and dull. It's still retained my skins natural glow and overall 'life' and has added overall dewyness to my face. I'm really really happy with the results and method of application. I've received compliments from friends telling me that I look like I've come back from a holiday or that I look like I'm pregnant! Asking me what I've done with my face.

With the Beauty blender you can build up the coverage and then lightly dust some powder over to set it. I will be trying a stippling brush soon also, as I've heard that they're really good for a flawless face and if I have to I will dampen the brush if I notice that my face needs any moisture. I've seen on youtube that people use Mac's fix+ on their faces or their brushes before applying foundation. So it's the same idea I guess.

So that's my little experimentations explained. I totally recommend the Beauty blender or the dupe or any dampened sponge applicators. I've given most of the foundations I've mentioned before that i wasnt sure about another chance. Since different application methods give different results. I will be doing some posts very soon, so keep an eye out. Hope this was of help to anyone. Peace to you all... X